Foreign owned coal mines pump millions of litres of water out from deep underground every day and discharge it into the Coxs River catchment above Sydney's drinking water supply.
Tap each stop for what's actually happening there.
Rain that falls on the Gardens of Stone soaks through sandstone into groundwater, which is why water from natural catchments like this one is normally clean enough to drink. Intensive underground mining breaks that cycle. Groundwater floods into the mine workings and is pumped out from deep underground, millions of litres every day. By the time it reaches the surface it has been through coal seams and mine workings, and it carries salt and heavy metals such as arsenic and selenium.
During low flow periods, mine water discharge makes up an estimated 80 to 90 per cent of the Coxs River's baseflow in this stretch, according to Lithgow Environment Group's own water monitoring. Much of what's actually flowing here isn't natural river water at all, it's mine water, flowing on toward Warragamba Dam. Local environmental groups have been monitoring this catchment for over twenty years, blowing the whistle on repeated discharges that have cost mining companies almost $1.9 million in fines and penalties.
The mines are approved to extract up to 42 million litres of this water a day, but not to discharge that much. Most of it is meant to be partly treated in a reverse osmosis plant and sent to the power station, where it is evaporated, leaving behind a toxic brine. A small amount, about 2 million litres a day, is only filtered. Up to 20 million litres a day of partly treated water is released into the catchment without a pollution licence, while toxic groundwater contaminated by the brine leaches into Wangcol Creek and then the Coxs River. Discharges also pass through Thompsons Creek Reservoir and Cooks Dam. The mines have applied to release even more mine water directly into the Coxs River.
And the mines want to keep going. Three mines in this catchment plan to apply to extend their lives, one to 2040 and two to 2042.
Independent university research has confirmed platypus have vanished entirely from stretches of the Coxs River near Lithgow, driven out by salinity and heavy metal pollution. The reason is simple: without healthy populations of yabbies, mayflies and dragonflies, there's nothing left for a platypus to eat. Peer-reviewed studies of this catchment have found the same pollution significantly reduces the abundance and diversity of the small invertebrate life that the entire river food chain depends on.
Watch the Mingaan Rangers' platypus survey →Who wants a dead river to fish in?
In 2017, environmental groups won a court case forcing coal mine polluters to clean up their discharge into this catchment.
The water quality test that's supposed to protect Sydney's drinking water, NorBE, was watered down in response to the court case. Since then, an even bigger gap has been exploited: if a mining company is modifying an existing mine rather than proposing a new one, it doesn't have to meet the water quality test at all. Almost everything happening in this catchment now goes through as a modification, not a new development, so the one legal safeguard meant to stop this is being sidestepped by design.
Even the largest single fine amounts to roughly a tenth of one per cent of a year's revenue. That isn't a deterrent, it's a line item. And while local groups have spent two decades trying to hold this catchment together, the company responsible plans to ask the government for up to sixteen more years at three mines. Let's keep the bastards honest, write a submission, make a difference.
The Premier and the Minister hold the power to strengthen the law, and the local member represents Lithgow in Parliament. Send them all.
Copy our text below, or better yet, use it to write your own. Change a few words, make it yours, an original sentence is worth more than you think.
Strengthen the NorBE test, as your party promised in 2017.
"Premier, mine water now makes up an estimated 80 to 90 per cent of dry-weather flow in this stretch of the Coxs River, on its way to Warragamba Dam and the taps of 5,000,000 Sydneysiders. The law meant to protect that water, the Neutral or Beneficial Effect test, was weakened in 2017, and at the time your party committed in Parliament to restore the proper protections if the rules deteriorated. They have deteriorated. Three mines in this catchment plan to apply to extend their lives to 2040 and 2042, and the weakened test, along with the loophole that lets expansions skip it, would allow them to keep discharging polluted mine water for that long. I'm asking you to keep that promise and strengthen the NorBE test, so it is measured against a clean baseline and requires real treatment of polluted discharge."
Argue for a strong NorBE test.
"Minister, the mines in this stretch of the Coxs River are approved to extract up to 42 million litres of mine water a day, and mine water now makes up an estimated 80 to 90 per cent of the river's dry-weather flow on its way to Warragamba Dam. Platypus have disappeared from stretches of the river, and mining companies have been fined and penalised almost $1.9 million for discharges into the catchment since 2015. The NorBE test is meant to protect Sydney's drinking water, but it was weakened in 2017. I'm asking you to argue within Government for a strong NorBE test, measured against a clean baseline, with best-practice treatment required wherever polluted water is discharged."
If you live in the Bathurst electorate, let your local member hear from you.
"As a resident of the Bathurst electorate, I'm asking you to raise the state of the Coxs River catchment in Parliament. Mine water now dominates this stretch of the river in dry weather, and three mines nearby plan to apply to keep operating until 2040 and 2042. The test meant to protect the water flowing on to Warragamba Dam, the NorBE test, was weakened in 2017. I'd like you to back a stronger test, and to tell me where you stand."
Watershed is a short form documentary series following Sam, a fifth-generation Lithgow resident, as he discovers the current state of his beloved river.
Along the way he talks to landcare experts, scientists and environmental groups to uncover the horrifying truth about the condition of the Upper Coxs River catchment.
Start with Episode 1: Mine Water.
This campaign is carried by the Nature Conservation Council's network of environment groups across NSW. Add your voice and get updates as the campaign moves.